


While the Wind Howls

by Ohtd_luv4ever



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: AU Timeline, Angst, Durin Family Feels, Eventual Happiness, Fluff, Grumpy Thorin, Multi, Protective Dwarves, Sadness, Shapechanging, Unamused Bilbo, dwarflings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-03-01 17:11:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2781143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohtd_luv4ever/pseuds/Ohtd_luv4ever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He raises his muzzle to the snow filled sky<br/>To howl his lonely song<br/>The cry of the broken<br/>That all too soon<br/>Echoes<br/>Then is gone</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything, All credit for the universe goes to Tolkien. 
> 
> Also: I am severely mucking with cannon...
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy!

It was cold when he woke. The sort of chill that would send less sturdy of folk scurrying for their warm hearths and steaming mugs to chase the frost away. There was no sound, hardly any light and it was wrong. There should have been a fire in the empty brick hearth; the chairs knocked over on their sides had been standing in their proper positions last he saw them. The faint glow of a fading light filtering through one high window illuminated the abandoned building, missing personal items and the general lack of people screaming out its story. He had been left. Stiffness had settled deep into his muscles from disuse, and his throat was dry and rough from lack of water. Staggering to his feet, the low throb of pain from a wounded heart beginning anew in his breast, the trip to the partially ajar door was nearly more than he could do. 

The world was covered in snow. Soft and white and bitingly cold, it layered the ground and everything around in its colorless embrace. The little hovel that he had called his home for nearly eight months stood out with its brown siding, a single marring effect in the unblemished landscape. His breath fogged in the icy air, the falling flakes of snow drifting slowly down to earth around his half frozen form. Nothing was said, not yet. It was still too raw, this betrayal. He had thought he could trust them, had loved them so and they had left him. He never should have told them his secret, never should have shown them. It had simply driven those he cared about away. He had learned this lesson twice now repeated and stupidly hoped that it could be different this time. Never again would he expose himself in such a manner, his heart couldn’t take a third blow. 

Turning from the empty house and its broken promises, he forced his body to move, making a path through the fallen snow forward to the line of forest that would offer him sanctuary. It was hard, he did not know how many days he had been left in the house without food or water, and his body would give out on him sooner rather than later if he did not manage to catch or take something to sustain his life. He hated to steal, it wasn’t right nor was it honorable, and there was very few around this area that could afford a thief. His only hope was that a few winter ready animals asleep in their burrows would not be too deep for him to root out and devour. 

It was mind numbing to walk while so wounded, a rough approximation of what he should have been able to do. He had been hurt worse before physically and continued on, but this deep throbbing ache faltered his steps like nothing had before. Worse, he could not bring himself to hate his abandoners. He had loved them too dearly for such a thing though they had broken him so. In a way it was his own fault. He had known what their people said about ones such as himself and had ignored it. Hoped that they could feel differently and accept him..love him as he did them. It was a foolish mistake. He would not make it again. A hidden root struck his cold numbed feet and sent him crashing to the earth near a tall oak tree. Sprawled amongst its roots, shivering in the cold and utterly heartsick, stomach pinched with hunger and throat aching in thirst he let go. The rising and falling wail of pain and grief was not like any sound uttered by man nor dwarf, it was an animalistic cry of sorrow that traveled far into the snow laden trees. He did not cry, there was no water in him to spare for such a show of his inner turmoil, but the wrenching sobs did enough to express the agony on their own. It was only after his throat was raw and his voice gave out that the numbing cold began to register again, as did the hollow bowl of tree roots that surrounded his frail body.  


It was an enclosed space, the only gap being the one that he had made when he fell through the covering over the top, and with a few adjustments it could be a shelter. Shuddering, the male shored up his temporary safe place as best he could with the branches around him, finally stripping off his shirt to use to block the hole in the top to stop any more cold air from getting in. His hands fumbling, fingers starting to tinge blue, the final crack was sealed and he slumped down into the bed of dry leaves on the bottom of the forest floor. As he did, a sweet smell permeated the air, and moving his body to the left revealed a hidden treasure of berries and nuts that some forgetful squirrel had stored away. Driven by his hunger they didn’t last long, hardly touched the ache in his belly, but it helped. The sugar and protein of the nuts would keep him alive another night. He couldn’t risk eating any of the snow, it would lower his body temperature and if that happened freezing was a real danger even in his shelter.

Shivering even more fitfully now, the male slowly pulled off his pants, socks and boots and set the clothes in a pile under him to keep what warmth he had left from seeping into the ground. Then, closing his eyes, he made his shift for what he promised was the last time. The crunch of bone and twist of sinew was sickening to hear for those who were unaccustomed, but for the one who had been doing it his whole life, even the pain of his body making itself into something new was hardly noticeable. Surprisingly, his body did not shrink as was common with many of his kind. It grew, elongating and stretching to accommodate the new limbs. His face stretched and lengthened, fingers disappeared and fur grew all over his body. Only his eyes and his facial hair stayed the same, the swooping mustache and little goatee probably looked odd on his new face, but he could not see his own features to care. 

It was warmer now, with his coat to insulate him and the little nest of his clothes and leaves worked well enough for a bed. He would survive this, he had before. No matter how it hurt he would survive. He was a Broadbeam after all, and if nothing else they endured no matter what was thrown their way…or how many times they were thrown away.  


The woods were not kind in winter, with food scarce and the weather enough to kill at night, it was a miserable existence for one who lived alone. Yet live he did, though it was more going through the motions than anything else. He had been skinny before his abandonment, but now with perhaps one meal every three days if he was lucky, and nothing but raw meats at that his figure wasted away in less than a month. He was more skin and bone now, his brown fur matted and dirty. Feral he looked and feral he felt, living as his inner beast commanded he should in the situation. It was lonely in the woods, he who was a social being by nature and craved affection at heart. Once or twice a camp of men or dwarves would pass through his sheltered area, but silence was a hard learned lesson, stealth a necessity and it made hiding from them easy enough. When he could no longer keep his longing at bay sometimes, under the cover of night, he would creep close enough to see the flickering flames and hear the voices of the travelers. Pretend he would be welcome among them and that he could curl up close to the warmth of the flames without fear. The once that he was noticed however put a stop to such fantasies, as the dwarves rose cursing from their seats and drew weapons upon him, calling him wolf and driving him from the camp. 

It was hard not to want, not to desire what he once had, and it only made his solitude worse as the weeks turned into months. There were several points where laying down in the snow and going to sleep seemed to be the best option to ease his pain, but always his will to live stopped his pity party and he moved again, into another day. However it was the arrival of a new purpose for his life that would really begin the events that would change everything he knew, for Mahal is not so unkind as to leave one of his children to suffer unjustly for long. 

The sound of happy shrieks and joyous laughter pricked the dwarf’s ears from the top of his head where he lay in his tree hollow. It was just passed the midday by his reckoning, and conserving his strength for the night when he would hunt was always his plan during that time of the light hours. However the so foreign sound tantalized his mind and heart into action, and the shifter burrowed his way out of his den to investigate the source. He had learned long months back that the way his wild cousins moved, the wolf trot of four steps running and three long walking saved him considerable energy and allowed for farther distances to be covered, and so it was in this odd gait that the dwarf sniffed his way to a small clearing where he would catch rabbits as the weather allowed. 

There, rolling in the snow were two small dwarflings. One with hair as bright as gold, and the other with locks as dark as the shifters own. From his place in the woods the once dwarf stood, brown eyes bright with interest and happiness. He had served both men and dwarves before, but neither had claimed children as their own for the shifter to love. His heart ached the more for the watching of such innocence and fun, but it was a bittersweet pain that compelled him to stay. An undercurrent of concern floated through the shifters thoughts as he noticed the lack of an adult. Surely no parent would allow their children to wander the woods by themselves. When an hour passed and still no grown dwarf showed their face, the dwarf concluded that the children had snuck away from their responsibilities to play. The heart of the shifter was not so cold as to leave the dwarflings to their wanderings in the woods, wary as he was of adults the innocent younglings of any race held none of his ire. So he stayed, and when the shadows grew long and the older of the two declared that the play was done and that they should be getting home, the shifter stretched his legs and prepared to follow the youngsters back to their home to ensure their safety.

After ten minutes it was clear that they were lost. The trees looked very different at night and for one who was new to the forest becoming confounded was easy indeed. It was hardly a conscious decision for the shifter to break away from the cover of the woods and go to the dwarflings sides when the younger of the two began to cry. Sadness should not touch these two, and he would do what he could to keep it far from them. His silent approach was not noticed until his cold wet nose was touching a pale hand, and the gasp of surprise nearly sent him fleeing back to the woods. As it was, the shifter was met by two pairs of startled eyes, one blue as the summer sky and one brown as fresh turned earth. After the initial shock he found no fear on their faces, which was surprising in of itself, but the small grubby hand that reached out to him not a moment later was even more so. 

“Doggie..” 

Slowly, as if it had forgotten that it could, his tail thrummed through the air and his muzzle pressed into the little hand, encouraging the boy to pet his admittedly dirty fur. A happy smile chased away the lingering fear on the dwarflings face, and it made the shifters heart glad to see it. The older one was closer now as well, his own hands reaching to tangle in the matted fur of their visitor, and though they were both shivering, the night didn’t seem so frightening with a new friend at their side. Gently taking ahold of the younger dwarfs coat sleeve, the shifter pulled the dark haired youth forward a few paces then let go, turning and starting back into the woods to where his little hollow was. It took a few repeats, but eventually the two boys figured it out and followed him, stumbling in the near darkness from time to time and chattering all the while, but always with their shaggy friend to guide them. 

By the time they got to his den, the boys looked ready to drop, so when the shifter crawled into his home to show them how to get in, the two dwarflings were only too happy for a rest. It was snug inside the tree roots with three and not one to fill it, but the warmth was worth the cramped conditions. Safe and relatively comfortable, the dwarflings made a pillow of their furry friend, snuggling to his side without any concern for the dirt or smell that the shifter was sure he carried with him. Winter would only be around for another month, but he would not have left the two younglings curled against him out in the wild by themselves for all the money in the world. Looking down on his quietly dozing guests, the shifter made a decision. It was time for him to stop hiding in the woods, moping and forcing himself into solitude. He would watch over these two for as long as he was able, for what dwarf with such a purpose could feel empty inside. He had finally found something worth living for again. He wasn’t going to give it up easily. 

A few miles away in the woods, two worry stricken forms searched the surrounding trees and snow laden pathways for signs of little bootprints in the last of the light. Torches were brought and names called into the night, but the ones they sought were fast asleep and out of hearing range to answer the calls. The two were joined by three, and the group spread out long into the evening, giving up never an option in their minds while their family was missing. Only when the cold became too fierce and the torches burned out were they forced to return to the camp empty handed with tears on their cheeks and blank faces filled with grief. The dark haired dam collapsed by the fire, inconsolable in her anguish, and her fair haired husband could only hold her close and silently release his own pain. It was a dark night for the clan of Durin, for to lose one child was a tragedy, but to lose two at the same time was a horror beyond words. None of them could hope for their lads to survive the night, and it was with heavy hearts that the dwarves sung a mourning song into the ashes of the fire. None slept that night, never dreaming that only a few short miles away the very ones they sung so sadly for were safe and well in a small tree hollow, resting against the shaggy form of their savior.


	2. New Beginings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Normal disclaimer: All goes to Tolkien  
> Hope you guys enjoy!  
> Sadly such updates may be fairly slow, but I will get them out I promise.

When he woke it was to the hushed voices of his young guests. The shifter stretched his long limbs and looked up at the two dwarflings, his dark brown eyes blinking at the pair as they gestured and waved their small hands about over his head. The blond brother looked rather exasperated, as if he had been making a point several times already but his sibling refused to listen to him. The brown haired dwarfling had a rather magnificent pout on his chubby face, and the instant that he noticed their host was awake let loose a happy cry and flung his arms around the dog’s neck. 

“Doggie!” 

The other boy shook his head, but reached out to pet the shifter behind the ears, prompting a tail thump from the older being. 

“Kee, we can’t just call him doggie all the time. We have to give him a proper name.”

Biting his lip, the other boy looked at his new friend with a fiercely concentrated expression on his face, nearly scowling in the intensity as he thought. At that moment the shifter sneezed and twitched his nose, making his mustache like length of fur around his muzzle wave with the movement. A happy gasp escaped the younger dwarfling as an idea came to him. 

“Fur! We will call him Fur Fee!” 

The blond dwarfling grinned and joined in the petting of their new friend, murmuring the name to himself a few times to get the feel of it. 

“That’s a good name Kili. Fur it is.” 

The shifter was slightly bemused but content to let the boy’s name him, it was surprisingly close to his actual name after all so there wouldn’t be a problem of him recognizing it. Soon the grumble of hungry bellies told the older being that his new companions needed food, and he was reminded that he had to return the two happy children to their families soon. The thought filled the shifter with an odd mix of sadness and content, because no matter how he was growing attached he knew that he needed to return his new friends. That didn’t mean however that he couldn’t come with them when the group moved out; he would just have to be careful he wasn’t seen. 

He knew well the hatred of wolves or anything thought to be a wolf, being driven from camp sights one too many times had taught him the lesson. His presence wasn’t taken well whenever he was discovered and the shifter had no plans to become the object of such persecution easily. 

Leading the dwarflings from his home, the newly named Fur began to find his way through the fresh fallen snow, his long legs and peculiar stride easing the way. It wasn’t a few minutes later however that he observed the difficulty his dwarflings were having, and he had to wait until they caught up to him. They were panting; the little one especially was finding it hard to move through the snow that came up to his waist. It would take far too long and their stamina would not carry them to their family, so Fur lowered himself to his belly and tugged at the older dwarflings sleeve until it touched his back. 

Fili grinned at the dog and grabbed his brother, hoisting him up onto their friend. He pet the shifters head gently between the ears in thanks, and stayed close to his side when Fur stood up with his new passenger.

“It’s ok Fur, I can walk. I’m bigger than Kee is.” 

The trio began their journey again, and though the going was still somewhat slow, the hound made sure to break up the snow as he walked so that Fili wouldn’t struggle so much. It was less than an hour later that they came across signs of the nights search, and from there Fur used his sense of smell to guide them. Soon enough smoke from fires was visible over the trees, and the sound of bustling dwarrows began to filter through the naked woods. 

Fili was excited and nervous. He knew that his parents and uncles were going to be furious with him and Kili, but he also knew that they were probably very worried also, so he wouldn’t blame them if they yelled a bit. Looking over at his drowsy brother, Fili smiled slightly and adjusted his grip on Fur’s coat so he could shake his sibling into wakefulness. 

“Kee, were almost home. Come on get up. Amad might have honey porridge today.” 

The promise of food roused the dwarfling and he sat up rubbing his eyes with a grumble. He looked around and sniffed the air trying to catch a whiff of what his brother was talking about.

“Think amad will have rabbit tonight? I like rabbit...” 

Fur snorted in amusement at the child’s sleepily stated desire and continued walking, half listening to the conversation of his companions and also looking out for any patrols that the camp might have sent out. He didn’t fancy getting arrows shot at him after all. 

“I don’t think so Kee, most the rabbits are hard to get and there tiny, so uncle doesn’t go after them. We might have something else though.” 

The younger boy started to whine slightly, his hungry belly and the cold making him irritable. He started to kick his legs and a sad pout started to form on his cherubic face, and sensing his distress Fur turned his head around to lick at Kili’s hands. This was as far as he would take them.

He didn’t want to risk being seen by the adult dwarrows, and knelt in the snow to let his passenger off. The two looked at him questioningly until he nosed them around the snow laden bushes he had stopped behind. The sight of their camp brought huge smiles and excited squeals from the two young ones and they immediately began to charge down the hill, calling for their amad and adad at the top of their lungs. Fur followed their progress carefully and hid himself behind a rock formation large enough to conceal him as the two boys were met at the edge of the camp by their ecstatic parents. The shifter waited until the whole loudly chattering group of dwarrows had filtered back into the group of shelters before he stood and retreated back into the woods. 

He was sure that the boys would forget about him soon enough, but this was the most alive he had felt in weeks, and now that he remembered what it was to have a purpose he was loath to go back to just surviving. 

The forest was far quieter farther away from the camp. The chill air frosted out around his face as Fur breathed in to draw the peacefulness into himself, then his body began to change. No longer was he the happy go lucky companion of the dwarflings, but a predator on the hunt. He lowered his head, shifting his stance to a low center of gravity, perked his ears, and began the age old dance of the hunter and the hunted. 

 

When the first rabbit appeared outside her tent Dis didn’t think much of it, it was uncommon but welcome to get fresh meat during the winter, and she assumed that her husband or brother had caught it during their hunt. Her family ate well that night and the next morning, and when the last bit had been used, the next day a fresh one was set outside the tent once more. It wasn’t until the fourth such occurrence that the dwarrowdam noticed something odd, because this time there was no convenient tree stump or rock near enough the tent for the food to be placed on, and this time the rabbit was on the ground. 

None of her family would risk contaminating food in such a manner, so it made this offering look suspicious. When she picked up the carcass a stain of red around the animal’s neck caught her eye, and Dis frowned heavily as she turned it to inspect what was going on. All the other animals had their necks broken, but there were puncture marks in the flesh, like whoever had caught it had attacked more roughly than they intended. This was a troubling matter and the dwarrowdam looked around the surrounding tents warily, her hand straying to her knife. 

The area around the tents was trodden down and a mess of footprints in the slushy snow, so it was nearly impossible for the mother to make out anything that could possibly tell her who was bringing the food. Slowly the dwarrowdam began moving out of the circle of tents and into the relatively untouched snow beyond the camp, and there in the white she saw tracks that made her heart stutter in her chest. Large paw prints, over lapping each other, some heading to their camp and some away. Swallowing heavily Dis followed the tracks up to the forests edge, then turned and swiftly made her way back into the previously safe boundaries of her people. 

Finding her brothers and husband wasn’t hard; the two of them were nearly always at the center of the camp directing thing. It was busy, but one look at her face and the three dwarrow excused themselves to see what had troubled her so. Dis held out the rabbit to them, and when they didn’t seem to get what the problem was right away she pointed to the blood on the animal’s neck. 

“I did not catch this. And I am fairly sure neither of you did. This rabbit was killed by teeth, left outside our tent. And I found wolf tracks outside camp, one set heading in, and another away from the camp.” 

That got their attention. And Thorin looked out to the not so distant forest edge with a wary look on his stern features. Vili took the animal from his wife and inspected the marks, tsking thoughtfully as he studied the damage. 

“The bite wasn’t deep enough to decapitate the animal. Usually when you see wolf’s kill it’s with far more force, this looks like the damage was an accident...but that doesn’t make any sense. Why would a wolf try not to draw blood when it makes a kill let alone leave it where another will get the meal it worked for. Something about this doesn’t add up.” 

The three decided that they would use the animal as they had been for the past few days, and when it was gone someone would stay up to see what happened. None of them were comfortable with the thought of a wolf tame enough or bold enough to just walk into their camp with its prey, and the mystery of why they were being gifted the food rankled the proud dwarrows with unease. 

Thorin decided that he would take the first night and sat just at the entrance of his family’s tent in the dark, with his sword across his lap and his heavy fur coat slung about his shoulders. The moon was just a sliver in the sky and night well into its cycle when the exiled king first caught sight of a dark shadow weaving its way through the tents. The being was silent and swift, and being a dwarf with good night vision Thorin had no problem identifying the visitor the instant he slipped from behind the sons of Fundin’s sleeping place. 

It looked to the royal a wolf, thin and haggard. Its head was down and in it lay a rabbit, swinging from the beasts jaws as it moved. Just as the intruder got close enough to where the food had appeared for the last week Thorin stood and unsheathed his sword, the rasp of steel freezing the animal in its tracks. It did not bolt however which only enforced the dwarrow’s worry that the beast was not in its right mind. Hoping to scare the wolf away, the warrior rushed from the tent with a loud roar, weapon upraised to strike. The animal leapt back a few paces, the rabbit still hanging from its teeth, but now a snarl was visible on the beasts face as he faced down the threat in front of him. 

The fact that the animal had not run but was standing its ground was not lost on Vili when he came rushing from the tent with his own sword out, and now faced with two attackers the wolf let loose a rumbling growl around its prey. Dis’s husband had brought with him a torch, and the flickering light threw the wolf into contrasting light and stunned its night adjusted eyes. In that moment Thorin struck, but the wolf had good reflexes and leapt out of the way, leaving half the rabbit on the ground where it had been shorn off by the dwarf’s blade. 

The beast dropped the rest of the prey to the ground now as Vili advanced, vicious growls now escaping its throat and it began to back away slowly. Dis was at the tent entrance, her sons safely in her arms as she watched her brother and husband fend off the beast, and little Kili who was still sleepy and confused by the commotion rubbed at his eyes where the torch light hurt them. It was Fili who recognized the wolf, and he gave a gasp of dismay when he saw his father narrowly miss their fury savior from before. He began to squirm in his mother’s hold, crying out to try and stop his relatives from hurting the being that he and his brother had befriended. 

“Fur! Fur run away!” 

Dis was bemused and struggled to contain her child, looking between him and the wolf who had not taken his gaze off his attackers for an instant but was indeed backing out of the camp faster than he had before. Finally the beast turned tail and fled into the night when a stone hurled by Thorin when he could not reach him by sword struck the animal in the face, and the intruder vanished into the night without a sound. 

Fili was crying now and he looked at his uncle as though he had been betrayed, clutching his mother’s night shirt in his little fists tightly. Kili hadn’t quite figured out what was going on, but he knew his brother was upset and that meant he must be too, so the younger dwarfling began to cry as well. Fili scrubbed at his face as his mother turned back into the tent and when his relatives entered he snuffled heavily. 

“Fili…why are you upset? That was a wolf, a dangerous animal. It shouldn’t be coming into camp; it could mean that there is something wrong with it.” 

The young heir wouldn’t be consoled however and his lower lip wobbled with his emotions even as he shook his head to deny what his father was saying. 

“No! It was Kili and I’s friend! I told him it was ok to visit! He was bringing us food because I asked him too, now he might not come back!” 

The three adults looked at each other in concern. They had heard the boys story of this ‘Fur’ that they said had helped them, but they had taken it as a child’s fantasy. Now it seemed the boy was projecting the make believe being onto a potentially dangerous beast, and now that wild being thought it was alright to just enter the camp whenever it chose. Finally Dis was able to get her children calmed and back to sleep on their little cot, and joined her relatives for an emergency meeting of what to do about the beast that had apparently been following them while they traveled. The circle of dwarrows was grim as they sat around the fire, and Balin was the first to speak on a possible solution. 

“It would be wise to keep a look out now that we know of the threat. I agree with you Thorin, no animal in its right mind would do what this beast has shown. It is clearly either unwell or there is some foul magic at play. If it is sighted projectile weapons should be used to chase it away, and it wouldn’t be wise to accept any more of its gifts.” 

Vili and Thorin, Dwalin and Gloin all nodded. They would inform their sections of the camp tomorrow about the new plans. Dis’s husband was looking in particular rather worried, as he had come the closest to the beast and had gotten an estimate of its size. 

“It was no normal wolf. It might be some kind of odd hybrid of a warg. It was too large to be any breed not of the spawn of morgul. Its face was not the right shape exactly nor was the ears. I am not entirely sure what it was, I only hope that it takes the hint and doesn’t try to enter the camp again. My children seem to think it is a friend and called it by a name they gave to the imaginary savior from when we thought them lost.” 

The others looked just as concerned at such news, and it was decided that the boys wouldn’t be allowed to wander without an adult present. They did not want to lose the heirs to the Durin throne, and the troubling thought that the princes had been bewitched by some forest spirit did not sit well with them. 

Over the course of the last winter months there were several encounters with what they termed the ‘winter wolf’, and each time they caught the beast it was always carrying food to the camp. Stones and arrows were enough to drive the beast away however, no matter when it came there was always someone to make sure it never stepped foot in the camp. 

Keeping the boys away was a different matter altogether. They were adamant about visiting their ‘friend’ and several fits were thrown each time they were stopped. No matter what the adults did or how they tried to explain it, the lads were convinced that their friend was the animal that had been following them for the winter months. They wouldn’t be swayed and it only strengthened the adult’s conviction that something had bewitched their boys to make them act so.

Finally however the wolf seemed to take the hint and there were no sightings for nearly a month, and it was with the hope that the beast had moved on that the dwarrow clan moved into the middle of spring with an optimistic attitude. They were past the lands of the horse lords when their luck began to turn sour, food was scarcer outside of the woods and there were less friendly people to trade with. A few uneasy days traveling passed in silence, the air becoming thicker with mal intent and gathering tension. 

The place they could find to house them for the night was open and vulnerable, with only one mound of rocks to set some tents against to shelter from the wind. None of the leading dwarrows liked the place but the group was tired from the day and there was little better place to rest. It was with trepidation that the group set the camp up for the night, and it was with good reason that they feared. 

The attack came just before dawn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhangers are evil...but it seemed appropriate. Hope to read your reviews!

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so to those who have read my other story 'Unbroken Chains' Thank you all for your lovely comments and encouragement. Sadly right now the story is a little flickering ember at the back of my mind. I may return to it one day but today is not that day. So hopefully you enjoy this story just as much, and will continue to read it through my admittedly slow updates. 
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> PS: This is just a trial post, to see if anyone would be interested in such and Au and would enjoy reading it. If so, then please comment and let me know and I will continue to write it! Thank you.


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